Archive for
June
2014 - Page 3

(Calif.) Gov. Jerry Brown appears to have prevailed over legislative leaders on the key issue of how much the state has to spend next year, thus limiting new investments and growth of existing programs.

(Calif.) A tentative budget agreement still under negotiation would delay Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to pay off all the money owed schools from past apportionment deferrals and use some of those dollars – perhaps as much as $450 million – to begin paying down the estimated $4.5 billion in unpaid mandate claims.

(Calif.) Nine months after California's dustup with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan over accountability and the Common Core, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – seems to have decided California was right: States need more time to train teachers, prepare assessments and teach students in the new standards before schools can be held accountable.

(District of Columbia) Much of the nation is engaged in some new form of teacher evaluation, encouraged by billions of dollars in grant money from the Race to the Top competition or by the promise of a waiver from key mandates imposed under the No Child left Behind Act.

(District of Columbia) A new study out from the U.S. Department of Education looks at how eight unnamed school districts expanded the evaluation process to all teachers using a variety of alternative systems.

(Calif.) One of the state’s many programmatic victims of the recent financial crisis, K-12 summer school programs appear to be making a comeback thanks to a rosier budget picture and a new education funding formula that directs more money to the students who would benefit most from the added learning time.

(Calif.) Parents attending a forum on school engagement in Stockton last week said they don't generally find that their child's school welcomes them or their input -- information that will be used as part of an effort to break down barriers between them and school administrators and teachers.

(D.C.) In Utah, first-year federal grant funding of $2.2 million was used to create a partnership between seven rural school districts, three charter schools, the Ute Indian Tribe, Utah State University and four local business organizations aimed at helping more low-income and at-risk students graduate from high school prepared for college.